The Great winter Prank of '76
by TE Secret Santa
Summary: James' and his friends latest prank had impressed almost everyone, but will it impress the one person that matters most?  For Darksaber.  Happy Holidays!


The Great Winter Prank of '76

The sound of pounding footsteps woke Lily from the thoroughly pleasant dream she was having. She was still struggling to open her eyes when her dorm-mates, Alice and Mary, came bursting into the room chattering excitedly, not even trying to keep their voices down. Lily groaned and pulled her pillow over her head in a vain attempt to block them out. It was too early on a weekend to be up, let alone chipper.

"Oh good, you're awake,' Alice shrieked, much too loudly. "Come on, quickly before they get rid of it!"

"Ugh," Lily said, burrowing deeper into her bedclothes.

Alice bounced on the bed as she tried to pry the quilt from Lily's hands. Lily groaned one more time before she gave and pulled the blankets off her face.

"What in the name of Godric has got you acting like a four year old on Christmas morning?" she asked, giving Alice her best death glare. The one she normally reserved for James Potter.

"Just get up and come see for yourself, it's brilliant!" Lily's curiosity was beginning to win over her desire to return to sleep.

"Please, Lily, just come on will you, before the poor girl bursts a blood vessel," Mary begged joining Alice in tugging her from the bed.

"Alright, alright I'm coming."

Once Lily was out of bed, she barely had time to grab her dressing gown and slippers before her friends dragged her down the girl's staircase, across the common room and right out through the portrait hole.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked when they reached the third floor.

"The Great Hall," Alice said simply.

Lily could not begin to imagine what could possibly be so exciting about the dining hall. The festive decorations had been up for two weeks already and the enchanted ceiling, while lovely, were not worth this much fuss. She got her answer the moment they pushed through the huge wooden doors separating the Great Hall from the entrance.

Someone had removed all the house tables, charmed the ceiling to really snow and transfigured the floor into an ice-rink. Lily gasped at how beautiful it was. Beside her, Alice squealed as she squeezed Lily's hand and bounced up and down like a child on their first trip to a sweet shop. Lily smiled, her friends excitement finally starting to rub off on her.

She looked around the room taking in all the intricate details that she had missed on first glance. Several students from all four houses had transfigured their shoes into skates and were sliding around the floor, laughing. A group of fifth years she thought might be Hufflepuffs were building a snowman, and yet more students were filling mugs from a fountain, which looked to be flowing with hot chocolate. Whoever created this winter wonderland certainly was brilliant, or at the very least mad. Possibly both.

"Oh, there's Frank!" Alice exclaimed, "I'm going to ask him if he wants to take a twirl with me. Are you girls coming?"

Mary nodded, having spotted Janie Timmins on the other side of the hall.

"I'll be along in a minute," Lily said.

As Lily watched, her friends and schoolmates enjoy the temporary winter wonderland she became aware of one very conspicuous absentee. She could see Remus Lupin, trying and failing to look unimpressed, while Sirius Black handed out large mugs of steaming hot chocolate from a fountain he was most probably responsible for conjuring in the first place. The fountain, not the hot chocolate, everyone knows that you cannot create food from nothing. Their little mate, Peter, was currently wowing the crowd with his surprising grace on a pair of figure skates.

She did not see James Potter, who was usually front and center when there was mischief about.

O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O

James, hidden under his father's old cloak, stood a few meters behind Lily, watching her take in the changes to the room. Sliding between a pair of Ravenclaw 4th years, James reached out and grabbed Lily's arm, quickly wrapping his fingers around her mouth, silencing her shriek. He pulled her under his cloak, and began walking before she could even register what had happened.

"Mumph! Lemme go!" Trying to speak around his hand, Lily resorted to licking him. Finding not even that would work, she waited until they had navigated the length of the room. He finally released her, and still within the confines of the cloak, she rounded on him. "Potter! What did you do that for! Are you responsible for this ice rink?"

"Calm down, Evans. Yes, we are the ones who made the rink, no, we aren't sorry, because we asked permission first. I kidnapped you to ask you if you would go skating with me."

Lily stared at him. "You kidnapped me to ask something you are sure I will say no to." He nodded. "Just because then you could get me under this cloak of yours." Again, he nodded. She had become quite adept at reading his schemes. "You knew I would say no in public, but you are sure I will say no in private?"

"I'm hoping you will, Lily-flower," James replied, backing her into a nearby wall.

Dating him on the sly for the past few weeks, and he still sought ways to make her say yes. She loved saying no, just to see what he would do next. Lily slipped a hand into her robe pocket. Kissing him on his cheek, she grinned and said, "No way, Potter. You have to try harder than that," and she squeezed his hand, and walked away.

In James's hand, was a scrap of paper with a time and a place. Meeting in secret was almost as much fun as massive pranks to get her to date him in public.


End file.
